Software Africa Newsletter - May 2022

CAD News ~ Online Business Tip ~ Excel Tip ~ Training Tip

Rick's Editorial

Welcome. There were more floods in KwaZulu-Natal, with no time to recover from the previous one.  We hope our KZN contacts are safe. Donate to Gift of the Givers KZN.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine enters its fourth month with atrocities and war crimes galore.  The Azovstal defenders have surrendered but otherwise Putin is making little progress. Ukraine held its first war crimes trial, with a guilty verdict and life sentence.  With NATO hesitating to send heavy weapons for fear of escalation, the war looks set to drag on.  Donate here to United24.  But Computius thinks he has a quick solution.

Speaking of solutions, would you like not having to pay for your CAD program every year?  ZWCAD might be it, and there is a promotion on.

Our two live online courses, Excel Macros and Excel for Engineers, are still scheduled to alternate monthly.

Excel Tips starts a new mini-series this month, dealing with clever ways of looking up data.

This month's business tip looks at one alternative to TeamViewer.

ZWCAD, an Alternative to AutoCAD?

Would you like to pay once for your CAD program, not every year?

ZWSOFT has appointed Software Africa (that's us!) as a ZWCAD Registered Partner.  This means we are authorised to sell ZWCAD.

What is ZWCAD?  I'm glad you asked.  ZWCAD is a powerful, reliable CAD program.  It is DWG-compatible, meaning that it reads and writes the same files as AutoCAD does.  It has the same menu and ribbon as AutoCAD, which means that an AutoCAD user can easily swap to ZWCAD.

The program is available in three versions: Standard, Professional, and Mechanical.  Standard is a two-dimensional (2D) drawing package equivalent to AutoCAD LT.  Professional is 3D, equivalent to full AutoCAD.

Unlike AutoCAD, ZWCAD has a perpetual license.  You can upgrade when you like, or take out an annual maintenance contract to keep the program up to date.

Here is how the ZWCAD prices compare with AutoCAD (all excluding VAT):

A new Perpetual License for ZWCAD Professional is cheaper than a 1-Year Subscription for (full) AutoCAD.

A new Perpetual License for ZWCAD Standard is not cheaper than a 1-Year Subscription for AutoCAD LT.  However, with AutoCAD LT you pay every year.  If we compare the new Perpetual License for ZWCAD Standard with a 3-Year Subscription for AutoCAD LT, ZWCAD will save you 20%.

Notes: *Upgrade is from any earlier version of ZWCAD.
  **One-year-maintenance provides all the latest versions, including Service Packs and the annual upgrade.  It also comes with advanced technical support.  This optional item is charged along with purchase of the new license or upgrade, and annually thereafter.

Please email Software Africa for more information and to buy.

Promotion: Buy ZWCAD 2022 Now and get 1-year maintenance and upgrade to ZWCAD 2023 for free – Save up to 20%

ZWCAD 2023 is coming soon! Until 7 June 2022, when you buy or upgrade to a ZWCAD 2022 license, you get 1-year maintenance and upgrade to ZWCAD 2023 for free. Don’t miss out!  Notes:

1. Yearly Maintenance: Always have the latest version, with advanced technical support (local resellers’ technical support and services excluded)
2. This offer cannot be applied together with other sales promotions of ZWCAD.
3. ZWSOFT reserves the right to cancel, suspend, or modify this offer at any time without notice, and the right of final interpretation of this offer.

On-Line Business Tip #61 – Remote Support Alternatives I: AnyDesk

AnyDesk is easy and quick to set up from their website. Click the big orange "Download Now" button and the run the download.

AnyDesk is free for personal use. Professional users need a license but you can get started with a free 14 day trial. Only the initiator of a session needs a license, participants are free.  It is not clear what the criteria are to be a professional user.

The program has a simple interface.  Get the other user's 9-digit number, enter it, and let them accept the connection.

There is an unobtrusive toolbar at the top of the window which includes the features:

• Connection mode and encryption information.
• System information of the remote device and what permissions it has given you.
• Hard drive status of the remote machine. Useful for diagnosing if a busy drive is delaying the operation. .
• If the remote device has multiple displays, you can switch between them – a very useful feature.
• Chat with the user on the remote client.
• Recording: Start or stop recording the session.  Oddly, my copy doesn't have this button.  I have to pre-set beforehand in Settings whether to record the session or not.  Recordings go to the AnyDesk subfolder in Videos. You can only view them using AnyDesk itself, and there is no file conversion facility.
• Whiteboard actions.

AnyDesk does have a File Manager and File Transfer feature. But you can simply copy files on the one machine and paste onto the other.

It allows concurrent sessions with several machines, and records each separately.

The program Works on Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, Linux, and Raspberry Pi!

There are various pricing structures:

1. Essentials US$118.80 per year: Basic features for remote working and a single-user license.
2. Performance US$238.80 per year: Fast and reliable with a full set of business features and a multi-user license.

Caution: Your contract will renew automatically unless you stop it beforehand.

Next month we'll look at a tip from AnyDesk on how to avoid remote access scams.

Excel for Engineers Online Live Course

Following Courses:

Venue: Live Online via Zoom.  65-page PDF manual included, and 14 examples files.
Special Price if paid not later than two weeks before the course: Only R4,500 plus VAT per trainee.
Thereafter R5,000 plus VAT each.

Course Creator and Facilitator: Rick Raubenheimer B Sc (Eng) (Wits) (1975).

For more information and to book a course online or in-house at your company, click here and send the resulting email or email info@softwareafrica.co.za

Excel for Engineers Online Self-Paced Course

The Excel for Engineers live course is also available on-line as a self-paced course.  The same manual and examples.  The same trainer. No live support, however.  But done at your own pace at times that suit you.  Take half an hour a day and complete it in a month.  Spend an hour a day and finish it in two weeks.  Or dedicate two days –a weekend, perhaps?– and crack the whole course.

Sign up now and get these Bonuses:

1. Report, "Are You Making These Microsoft Excel Mistakes?"
2. A Free Support Group
3. Our Excel file "Excel Shortcut keys & My Macro Shortcuts" (you'll want this once you start building macros).

Take our self-paced online course in your own time and venue.  All the value at a quarter of the price of the live course.  Backed by a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Excel Tip #210 – Clever Lookup Examples I: A Toastmasters Contest in Excel

Do you need to pick out a name from a list based on some data? It might be the best-performing employee or department. Or the machine next in need of a service. Or the supplier whose concrete mix was the most consistent, or many others. This can have many applications:

The example we will look at here, comes from Toastmasters Division 74. The Toastmasters speaking contest's judging form typically comes as a PDF file. It lets you fill it in but not do any calculations. A helpful person transferred the contest judging sheet to Excel. It sums the various scores for the different categories and automatically inserts the names of the winner and two runners-up. You will learn about the Lookup functions MATCH, INDEX, MAX, LARGE, IFERROR, and IF.

Let's orientate ourselves by looking at a picture of the judging form:

Columns A-C have the judging items (categories).
Columns D-G contain suggested point values.
Columns H-Q are where you, the judge, fill in the contestants' names and scores: Names on rows 4-5, scores per category on rows 7-10.

Now that you are orientated, the next Excel Tip will look at Totalling the scores –not just a SUM!
Don't want to wait?  You can find the full article here on our new Excel for Engineers website.

Microsoft Excel Macros live online course

Macros let you do repetitive work in a flash, instead of repeating the same boring stuff manually.  Save hours not working late, and spend more time with your family...  You can now attend the whole course live online over two days from the comfort of your own computer.  This course is for you if you have a good knowledge of Excel, and now want to program your own time-saving applications.

Scheduled Courses:

Venue: Live Online via Zoom.  85-page PDF manual is supplied, and valuable examples.
Early-Bird Price if paid not later than two weeks before the course: Only R4,500 plus VAT per trainee.
Thereafter R5,000 plus VAT each.

For more information including the curriculum, click here.  To book a course online or in-house at your company, click here and send the resulting email or email info@softwareafrica.co.za

Covid-19 Lockdown is Over at Last!  Did You Learn a Timesaving New Skill?  Do it Now:

Instead of a doing the whole Excel Macros course over two days, you can do it online in your own time, more cheaply.  The Software Africa Quick 'n Easy Turbo-Start Excel Macros course is now online.  Take it now!

Computius Say:

News Item: Ukrainians petition to introduce visas for Russians.

Quick solution to Russian invasion: Require Russians to go home and get visas before entering Ukraine.

Remember:  We can make your business run better by:

• Training your company live online, or live in-house, or via a self-paced online course.
• We train on Excel, Word, Access, and Windows (all levels from beginners to Programming).
• Automating your in-house processes with Excel macros, a custom program or database.
• Promoting your corporate image with a set of templates on Microsoft Word or Excel, linked to your address list.
• Speeding up your processes by linking to your database or spreadsheet.
• Solving your QuickBooks, Microsoft Access, Excel, Word, Visual Basic, and PowerPoint problems.
• Supplying software: We sell and support various accounting, timesheet, scheduling, and productivity programs.
• Providing programs for the Engineer and Engineering Geologist: dotPLOT, ZWCAD, progeCAD, Autodesk AutoCAD LT and Revit LT.

All the Best from the team!
Rick and Judith

Communication in Action cc trading as Software Africa

Reg.  2009/007863/23 ~ VAT No 4500104387 ~ 126 Kelvin Drive, Morningside Manor, Sandton, 2191 South Africa.

Disclosure:  Some links we share might be affiliate links that we promote in return for a commission.  We only promote things we've actually tried and think would be great for you too.